Stephanie Lichtenstein

Advertising Tax Talk
Today, Shawn Collins posted the Advertising Tax Presentation that will be reviewed in Baltimore this Thursday. Shawn and Missy Ward will be presenting on this pressing topic. To get informed you can already view and download their presentation at http://www.slideshare.net/affsum/advertising-tax-primer.

For more information there will be a video posted by Shawn following the talk. I am looking forward to this talk. Being proactive and staying informed is key. If you will be in the area on Thursday, July 9 the Tax Talk will be taking place in Baltimore, MD at the buy.at office (1020 Hull Street, Ivory Building, Baltimore, MD 21230).

The $7.95 Marketing Plan
Jim Kukral released his new ebook last night. I was excited to go check it out. Jim gets great ideas and puts them into action. Not only that but he keeps it simple. His $7.95 Marketing Plan is about domain names.

Instead of buying a slice of pizza, pick a profitable domain name with the help of Jim. Did I mention his advice is valuable and free? Congrats to Jim on what I see as a successful ebook! I read it last night and I  recommend it to anyone thinking of purchasing new domain names.

Get Link Love
I first noticed Murray Newlands because of his hair, then through Twitter we began to chat. I first visited Murray’s blog to vote in his blog competition. Then I realized Murray is a super blogger! He posts numerous posts per day rich with content. I post maybe once a week if I am lucky! Either way I aspire to blog more. I can’t promise daily!

To my surprise Murray asked to interview little old me for his blog. He has some great questions that make you think. My interview with Murray is coming soon. Another thing Murray knows is how to get link love. Not only does he get link love but he shares it on his blog. He made a post about the importance of link love for the success of bloggers. If you post about link love he will share the love back with you!

ShareASale Datafeed Announcement
Today Brian Littleton, posted an announcement regarding datafeed formats. This is important because it affects Merchants and Affiliates. The new datafeed will be released on August 1, 2009. The beauty of this update is that it’s well planned.

ShareASale runs things smoothly and always thinking of how their decisions affect others. This is something you can always rely on when partnering with them. Therefore, the new changes will affect you only if you want them to. “Merchants will be able to continue sending old formats, and the fields will all be placed at the end of feeds so as to minimize impact to Affiliates.”

Highlights on the new Datafeed:
Quantity Discounts, Product Cross Selling, Additional Category Fields, Product Options (including the ability to change the base price based on a given option), and Merchant defined SKU value (unique).

For More Information:
Affiliates can view details inside your Affiliate Interface in the Help Center and Merchants can view more details here.

Outside of the Affiliate Marketing World…
As I share all this affiliate marketing news, I can’t help but to mention Michael Jackson. In the background I am hearing news from his memorial service and listening to the beautiful tributes that were made to him today. Most of them heartfelt and full of song.

Michael Jackson
The King of Pop is laid to rest today. He had an amazing memorial service. So many people where watching to say goodbye. No matter how you felt about him, his talent was undeniable. What others have to say about Michael’s tribute.

One thing that I hold dear to my heart is breaking through racial boundaries. My first love was Jamaican. So I will leave you with this special Michael song: Black or White. And remember it doesn’t matter if you are black or white!

Tuesday Topic
The topic this week is risk taking. As I watch Michael’s tribute I am reminded life is short. Don’t live your life thinking you can accomplish what you want in the future. Take charge of your life. It can be as little yet important as your health. Today I went back to spinning something I have been avoiding for months. This is not risky but maybe I will move on to sky diving and mountain climbing soon. I am afraid of heights but I should take risks more often.